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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
MILWAUKEE (AP) – The Chicago Cubs have known futility and
embarrassment the last few decades, and their 93-year World Series
drought is well documented.
|  | | Paul Rigdon walks back to the mound after serving up Matt Stairs' three-run homer. |
Yet the club's longest winning streak in 65 years – 12 games
after Saturday night's 10-4 win over the Milwaukee Brewers – is
being met with indifference in the Cubs' locker room.
"When you play 162, winning today really has no impact on
what's going to happen in tomorrow's game," Cubs pitcher Kevin
Tapani said. "You're only as good as what you do the next day."
The Cubs, who lead the NL Central by 3 1/2 games over St. Louis,
know a good stretch can go sour quickly. They lost eight in a row
before their current streak, which is the club's best since a
15-game win streak in June 1936.
Tapani (8-1), who won his the fifth consecutive decision by
allowing one run and six hits in five innings, said the Cubs are
focused on performance only.
"I think the one thing good that this club does is, we aren't
really looking at the wins and losses," said, "but how we go
about how we play the game, how we're doing our job."
During this winning streak, the Cubs are averaging just under
six runs per game, while the pitching staff has allowed just 29
earned runs in 112 innings (2.33 ERA).
On Saturday, Sammy Sosa, Matt Stairs and Rondell White, the Nos.
3, 4 and 5 hitters, each homered and drove in three runs as Chicago
built a 10-1 lead after six innings.
Stairs hit a three-run homer to cap a four-run third inning that
made it 4-1. Sosa hit his 16th homer, a 450-foot shot, and White
also connected in a four-run fourth.
"That's what we've been dreaming about for a while, getting
those guys started," Cubs manager Don Baylor said.
Milwaukee starter Paul Rigdon (3-3) put himself in trouble by
walking No. 8 hitter Gary Matthews on four pitches to start the
third. Two outs later, Ricky Gutierrez hit an RBI single.
After Sosa walked, Stairs lined his fifth homer of the season
just inside the right-field foul pole. An error, single and walk
loaded the bases before Matthews flied out to end the inning.
Sosa hit a two-run homer into the right-field bleachers in the
fourth. Rigdon remained in the game and gave up his sixth walk, to
Stairs, before allowing White's homer.
"All his pitches were really not very good tonight," Milwaukee
manager Davey Lopes said.
Milwaukee outhit Chicago 16-9 but left a season-high 15 runners
on base. Jeffrey Hammonds' RBI single gave Milwaukee a 1-0 lead in
the second, and the Brewers put at least two runners on base in
each of the first three innings. Stairs saved Tapani from more
damage in the third by spearing Raul Casanova's two-out liner to
first base with runners on first and third.
A crowd of 43,400, boosted by many Cubs' fans who made the drive
up from Chicago, was the biggest at new Miller Park.
"It's awesome," Stairs said. "Wherever we go, we have the
support of Cubs fans."
Game notes
The longest winning streak in Cubs' history is 21 games,
achieved in 1880 and 1935. ... Milwaukee's Mark Loretta extended
his hitting streak to 11 games with a sixth-inning single. ... The
crowd surpassed Friday night's attendance of 42,392.
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OTHER GAMES
Baseball Scoreboard
Chicago Cubs Clubhouse
Milwaukee Clubhouse
RECAPS
NY Yankees 9
Cleveland 4
Baltimore 7
Oakland 0
Boston 2
Toronto 1
Chi. White Sox 5
Detroit 3
Texas 3
Minnesota 2
Anaheim 3
Kansas City 2
Seattle 7
Tampa Bay 4
St. Louis 8
Cincinnati 5
Colorado 7
San Francisco 5
Houston 2
Los Angeles 1
NY Mets 7
Florida 1
Chicago Cubs 10
Milwaukee 4
Montreal 12
Philadelphia 5
Atlanta 0
Pittsburgh 0
Arizona 2
San Diego 1
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